AppNexus Boots Breitbart; Facebook Is Testing Sponsored Posts For Live

Conservative media publisher Breitbart was booted from the AppNexus exchange on Tuesday for falling afoul of its hate speech rules. After taking a hard look at the site, notorious for its use of offensive language, AppNexus decided it was in breach of company policy against content that incites violence. Breitbart’s executive chairman is Stephen Bannon, who will soon move onto greener (whiter?) pastures as President-elect Trump’s top strategy adviser. The AppNexus decision has nothing to do with politics or with the brouhaha around fake news, said AppNexus corporate communications chief Josh Zeitz, who also noted, “This blacklist was solely about hate speech violation.” Bloomberg has more.

Live And Kicking

Determined to drive adoption and monetization of its live video product, Facebook has begun testing sponsored posts that funnel users to a brand or publisher’s video mid-stream. Brands “would be willing to invest more in production for Live format if Facebook were able to showcase, guarantee the type of audience reach and scale brands could buy into,” says Ethelbert Williams, CMO of the cosmetics brand InstaNatural, to Digiday’s Yuyu Chen. More. The paid media test is just one of several tactics Facebook has deployed to push its live video dreams, including direct payments to publishers and, yes, even an old-school TV and OOH campaign.

Digital Buzz

NBCUniversal will intertwine its ad sales with BuzzFeed’s as part of an additional $200 million strategic investment in the digital media company, The Wall Street Journal reports. The deal will allow both companies to co-sell ad packages including space on each other’s properties. BuzzFeed will also create native ads and social media distribution strategies with NBCU’s content studio. “The investment allows us to remain a fully independent company but have access to and resources from the strongest and best media company there is,” said BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. The deal will boost BuzzFeed’s funding to $496 million as it looks toward an IPO in 2018. More.

Don’t Sweat The Duopoly

Advertisers and agencies might be worried about Facebook and Google, but Credit Suisse isn’t. After speaking with experts across the industry, analysts at the bank issued a note that said the duopoly threat is “overstated,” reports Lara O’Reilly of Business Insider. Analysts noted that the platforms’ collective clout is largely confined to digital; just 15% of total global ad spend is funneled through Google and Facebook. Since 2012, digital ad spend has dropped on the platforms by 10%, and new entrants like Snapchat continue to fragment their share of the pie. "Clients still rely on the agencies to make sure that spending is allocated in the best and most efficient manner possible across all media properties," the note said. Recent Facebook measurementmishaps show advertisers need third-party advisers more than ever. More.

People’s Republic Of Apps

Chinese device maker Xiaomi is partnering with game developer Unity in an effort to give Western game developers more access to the China market. Xiaomi is China’s answer to Apple (it’s actually notorious for copying Apple’s designs) for the Android market, operating one of the most popular app stores in the country, with more than 50 billion downloads to date. The partnership will allow Unity developers to publish their games to the Xiaomi app store and, in turn, Xiaomi will provide support negotiating local licensing terms. “A large part of ensuring developer success is providing access to the platforms that matter most,” said Andrew Tang, Unity’s China country manager.VentureBeat has more.